Nature’s Olympics - IUCN World Conservation Congress

02 August 2012 | News story

A number of concerned groups and individuals have recently called on IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) to postpone or cancel its Congress and to express disapproval on several environmental issues in Korea, including construction of a naval base on Jeju Island, scientific whaling and the Four Rivers restoration project. IUCN is committed to ensuring that Congress provides a platform for open and constructive dialogue on these issues and is working with the Korean Organizing Committee to engage with all groups and address their concerns at the meeting in Jeju.

Held once every four years, IUCN’s World Conservation Congress is the world’s largest and most important conservation event, as well as the birthplace of ground-breaking environmental conventions, scientific discoveries and global initiatives. This year, around 8,000 delegates—including government leaders, NGOs and top professionals from all regions with on-the-ground expertise—will attend Congress on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. Be there to hear new insight and see key agreements on how to manage our natural environment come to life.

• Nature+ is about boosting natural resilience. “Nature is inherently strong, but we must improve how quickly nature and people adapt to change,” says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of IUCN. “If we strengthen nature, we’ll see that ecosystems are more resilient and people, communities and economies are healthier.”

• Conservation works. “The slowness of global decision making on environmental issues belies what’s really happening on the ground. Many local results show that investing in nature and restoring natural areas brings social and economic returns. Even if every success isn’t replicable across all ecosystems, cultures or political systems, they point the way to making nature more resilient globally,” Enrique Lahmann, IUCN Congress Director.

• Nature provides solutions to climate change adaptation. “Ecosystem-based adaptation is a cost effective, no-regrets solution that governments ought to incorporate proactively into national policies and take immediate action to implement on the ground,” says Chong-Chun Kim, Secretary General of the Korean Organizing Committee. “Improving the management of river systems, coral reefs, mangroves and forests all tangibly improve the resilience of neighboring communities to deal with both the sudden and long-term consequences of climate change.”